Computer Crime, Security and Computer Viruses

Is there a security problem in computing?

Computer Crime

computer fraud in the U.S. alone exceeds $3 billion each year
computer fraud in the U.K. exceeds 2.5 L billion each year
less than 1% of all computer fraud cases are detected
over 90% of all computer crime goes unreported
"Although no one is sure how much is lost to EFT crime annually, the concensus is that the losses run in the billions of dollars. Yet few in the financial community are paying any heed."
average computer bank theft amounts to $1.5 million
Over 25% of all Fortune 500 corporations have been victimized by computer crime with an average loss of $2-10 million
total estimated losses due to computer crime range from $300 million to $500 billion per year
"Computer-related crime has been escalating at a dramatic rate"
"Computer crimes continue to grow and plague companies"
"Computer crime is almost inevitable in any organization unless adequate protections are put in place."
FAA Hacked - contributed by Black Adder (Apr 26, 2002 3:27 pm EST)
"Earlier this week an FAA system was penetrated by hackers who were able to download unpublished information on airport passenger screening activities, federal officials confirmed Thursday."
SECURITY NEWS NETWORK - http://www.l0pht.com/security_news/
MSNBC DoSed - contributed by Paul Kvanvig (Apr 25, 2002 5:28 pm EST)
"There has been a decrease in successful Denial of Service attacks against major Internet sites since the widely publicized attacks against Yahoo, Amazon, and Microsoft in 2000 and 2001. However, this morning MSNBC was unavailable due to a SYN flood attack."
SECURITY NEWS NETWORK - http://www.l0pht.com/security_news/
Ten New IIS Vulnerabilities Patched - contributed by Black Adder (Apr 15, 2002 6:23 pm EST) - "Ten different vulnerabilities within different versions of Microsoft's Internet Information Server were addressed Thursday by three patches from Microsoft. The most serious vulnerability would allow a malicious attacker to gain unauthorized access to a system running the IIS server."
SECURITY NEWS NETWORK - http://www.l0pht.com/security_news/
FBI Survey Uncovers Tight Lips - contributed by Stephen Scharf (Apr 9, 2002 11:03 am EST) - "A survey recently released by the FBI claims that 90% of respondents have be the victim of malicious activity, while only 34% reported such activity to legal authorities. Given the bad press that often follows an electronic break-in, most organizations prefer to deal with these issues internally, rather than open themselves up to a potential public relations nightmare. Because of this common practice, it is nearly impossible to accurately calculate how many companies become victimized each year."
SECURITY NEWS NETWORK - http://www.l0pht.com/security_news/

Computer Viruses

Five years ago, the chance you'd receive a virus over a 12-month period was about 1 in 1000; today, your chances have dropped to about 1 in 10. - CNN.com
A survey of over 600 companies and government agencies in the U.S. and Canada shows that 63% found at least one virus on their PCs last year.
The "I Love You" virus has reportedly crippled government computers and infected tens of millions of computers. - ABC News Site
The "Love Bug" virus destroyed graphics and files, downed operating programs and stole passwords from an estimated 65% of US companies - JSOnline
'More than 58,000 virus threats exist today' - McAfee Site

Natural Disasters

millions of dollars of damage resulted from the 1989 San Francisco earthquake
The fire at Subang International Airport knocked out the computers controlling the flight display system. A post office near the DCA computer room was also affected by the soot which decommissioned the post office counter terminals. According to Ibrahim, the computers were not burnt but crashed because soot entered the hard disks.

Negligence

over 85% of the destruction of valuable computer data involves inadvertant acts

What is computer security? For some it is controlling access to hardware, software and data of a computerized system

A large measure of computer security is simply keeping the computer system's information secure. In broader terms, computer security can be thought of as the protection of the computer and its resources against accidental or intentional disclosure of confidential data, unlawful modification of data or programs, the destruction of data, software or hardware. It includes the denial of use of one's computer facilities for criminal activities including computer related fraud and blackmail.

Computer security involves the elimination of weaknesses or vulnerabilities that might be exploited to cause loss or harm.

Network Security Issues

sharing of resources complexity of system
unknown perimeter (linked networks) unknown path
many points of attack

Security Exposures

privacy data integrity
authenticity covert channels

Solutions

encryption
access control
automatic call back
node authentication
differentiated access rights
user authentication
passwords and passphrases
challenge-response systems
token or smart cards
exchange of secret protocol
personal characteristics

Click here to return to Wayne's World's homepage:

written by Wayne Summerssummers_wayne@ColumbusState.edu